Category: Enforcement and Inspection

As today’s workplace becomes more complex, regulation of that workplace increases. In this section, you’ll find the practical advice you need to understand exactly what OSHA, other federal agencies, and their state counterparts, require of you, and to comply in the ways that best satisfy both your and their needs. Look also for important court decisions, advice on how to handle enforcement actions, and news of upcoming changes in workplace health and safety law.

Free Special Report: What to Expect from an OSHA Inspection

Bakery Facing $253K OSHA Lockout/Tagout Fine

Pan-O-Gold Baking Company, a Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, commercial baking facility, faces $262,953 in Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) fines for two repeat, six serious, and two other-than-serious violations, the agency announced May 6. OSHA investigators cited Pan-O-Gold’s failures to train employees in lockout/tagout energy control procedures, provide adequate machine guarding, require the use of […]

EPA Issues New Air Regulations for Chemical Industry

On April 9, 2024, the EPA announced it issued a final rule titled “New Source Performance Standards for the Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturing Industry and National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for the Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturing Industry and Group I & II Polymers and Resins Industry.” This marks the first rule issued by […]

EPA Approves Largest Offshore Wind Farm Off Virginia Coast

On April 12, 2024, the EPA announced it issued the final Clean Air Act (CAA) Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) air quality permit for Dominion Energy’s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Commercial (CVOW-C) project, located off the coast of Virginia Beach, Virginia. “Offshore wind energy is a cornerstone of the Permitting Council portfolio, representing nearly half of […]

Two Employers Facing OSHA Fines in Fatal Falls

A pair of employers—one in East Boston, Massachusetts, and another in Hahira, Georgia—face Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) citations and fines following employees’ fatal falls. Sky Safety Inc. of East Boston faces $447,087 in OSHA penalties after a window cleaner’s fatal 29-story fall from a building in downtown Boston’s financial district, the agency announced […]

Back to Basics: Are You Prepared for Another Hot Summer?

Back to Basics is a weekly feature that highlights important but possibly overlooked information that any EHS professional should know. This week, we examine how to prepare your workers for another hot summer. Are you ready for the above-normal heat predicted for this coming summer? Do you have heat illness prevention and heat illness response programs […]

Employer Facing $164K OSHA Fine in Visiting Nurse’s Death

A pair of home healthcare providers face $163,627 in Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) fines following the death of a licensed practical nurse during a home visit in Willimantic, Connecticut, the agency announced May 1. OSHA cited Jordan Health Care Inc. and New England Home Care Inc., both doing business as Elara Caring, with […]

Wetlands Protections After Sackett Decision

The consequences of last year’s U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) decision in Sackett v. EPA are revealing themselves across the nation, as exemplified on both sides of the Wabash River, which runs between Illinois and Indiana. That decision, which redefined “waters of the United States” (WOTUS), stated, “Wetlands that are separate from traditional navigable waters cannot […]

Florida Contractors Cited in Fatal Crane Accident

Two Florida contractors, Adcock Cranes Inc. of Plant City and Tampa-based Concrete Impressions of Florida Inc., are facing Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) citations and fines after an aerial lift operator suffered fatal injuries from being struck by a boom as a crane tipped over during work on an Orlando highway ramp. A Concrete Impressions […]

SCOTUS Scrutinizes Chevron Deference; Possible Consequences

Two cases, heard in tandem before the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) in January, have given the conservative high court justices the opportunity to decide whether to overturn, modify, or clarify the Chevron deference, an administrative law precedent that holds that the judicial branch should defer to federal agency decisions in matters when the applicable statutes […]

Guam Contractor Faces $1 Million OSHA Fine

Guam contractor Giant Construction Corp. faces $1,038,918 in Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) fines for trenching violations. Federal inspectors found employees working in trenches deeper than 5 feet without required safety equipment. Giant Construction, a Tamuning contractor, was installing sewer lines in multiple trenches at a worksite in the Palisades Subdivision Project in Tiyan. […]